Squad Tactics (XCOM: Enemy Unknown)
As a squad-based game, success in XCOM: Enemy Unknown depends upon the proper use of strategies and tactics. Without the opportunity to use combined arms and air support, the use of appropriate squad tactics can mean the difference between success and failure. Beyond the simple use of cover to help protect against enemy fire, there are a number of deployment strategies, as well as movement and fire tactics, which can be used to optimize the chances of success. Squad Leader When forming a squad in the Squad Selection screen before boarding the Skyranger, the foremost unit (the third from the left with a six-unit squad) will be the Squad Leader unless there is higher ranked soldier in the line up. This unit will have a yellow star on over their class icon in battle. If the Squad Leader is killed, there is a greatly increased chance that allies will become panicked. The Squad Leader starts out as the first soldier to take actions in the firing order. With a fully expanded squad, the initial firing order is roughly from front to back; from left to right on the Squad Selection screen: 5, 2, 1, 3, 4, 6. Deployment Strategies Deployment Strategies refer to the methodology employed in determining how troops will be grouped and sent into battle. There is no one universal strategy; their use depends on squad structure, weapon loadouts, and combat environment. Single Squad This strategy revolves around keeping the squad together and as compact as possible. For smaller or ill-equipped teams, this may be the only means of survival and effectiveness, as no one soldier is capable of bringing significant force to bear on an aggressor. While keeping the squad together is the driving force behind this strategy, it is important keep the squad from bunching up unnecessarily; while cover availability may require several soldiers to come together, keeping a minimum spread of two meters (tiles) between troops helps to minimize the risk from grenades. This has an advantage in allowing the squad to protect itself very well by concentrating fire. However, troops will begin to get in each other's way when it comes to getting into cover. Additionally, unless care is taken to stagger reloading, the entire squad is prone to running out of ammunition at the same time, leaving them vulnerable for a turn as they reload. Clearing an Area of Operations (AO) can be very time consuming. Fire Teams This becomes a preferred strategy for most cases once squad size has been improved. Fire teams are composed of a rifle section supported by a heavy weapon. In the XCOM context, this means two soldiers of the Assault Class or Support Class, supported by a Heavy Class trooper armed with a heavy automatic weapon. A full size squad can be broken into two very effective fire teams. Fire teams allow for high flexibility, but require that each individual soldier be capable of delivering an appreciable amount of firepower. Only larger squads armed with at least laser weapons should be deployed as fire teams. There are distinct advantages, however, which should not be overlooked. A proper fire team can take down a Sectopod on easier difficulties, and at least keep it pinned down until reinforcements arrive on higher difficulties. This is done by using the fire team elements in concert: the heavy gunner uses Suppression to keep an enemy pinned down and reduce its aim while the rifle element flanks and destroys the enemy. When fighting tougher enemies, flanking should be limited in favor of delivering maximum firepower in the shortest amount of time. The added advantage is that should the enemy still be a threat when suppressing fire ammunition is exhausted, the Heavy can unleash a rocket or other heavy weapon if the situation demands, although this shot should only be taken if there is no chance for the rifles to take down the target, they have already fired or to soften up extremely tough robots like Cyberdiscs or Sectopods when they are near full health (HEAT Ammo is especially helpful in such circumstances). Fire teams also prevent the entire squad from being caught in an ambush's kill box. Note: Substituting a Sniper for a Heavy soldier in one of the fire teams can also add increased flexibility to the squad (particularly so at long range) by adding some of the interesting and highly valuable skills that can be learned by a Sniper (such Battle Scanner, Squadsight and In The Zone) in addition to the obvious benefit of precision fire from a sniper rifle versus distant targets. Further augmenting the Sniper with mobility enhancing armor such as the Skeleton Suit, Archangel Armor or Ghost Armor can enable him or her to reach difficult if not impossible to reach locations to set up a firing position and gain height bonuses in the process. The Ghost Armor also enables active camouflage further opening up new tactics that otherwise wouldn't be possible. Point and Punch A modification of the Single Squad doctrine, Point and Punch breaks the squad into two elements: a pair of rifle scouts, usually Assault Class with Run & Gun (and possibly Lightning Reflexes), out front to detect enemies (the Point) and trigger Overwatch, followed by heavier weapons in the hands of the rest of the squad (the Punch). This is a risky approach, and should only be employed if a small squad is facing a well-armed and entrenched enemy. The soldiers on point are exposed to a very high degree of danger should they encounter a large enemy force or a small number of tough enemies. Dashing is discouraged, as the point soldiers should have a movement point remaining to either open fire or hunker down to avoid as much damage as possible. Point troops should never end movement outside of cover. Care must also be taken to ensure that the Punch element retains adequate cover and staggers reloads, as the Point soldiers will be dangerously exposed should the entire Punch element run out of ammunition at the same time. The Blaster Launcher gives this doctrine a new lease of life as the Heavies can blow major targets away without having a line of sight on them, sparing an extra turn of getting into position. Independent Sniper A strategy that should be intermixed with the above when using a Sniper with Squadsight and Damn Good Ground. It consists of simply posting the Sniper at an elevated position with a good field of fire, and keeping them there while using any of the three above tactics. The absurd range often buffs up the sniper rifle's accuracy up to 100%, and Opportunist can make life hellish for any ambusher. Since few alien teams roam the battlefield, the Sniper is unlikely to be discovered, and even when discovered is a hard target (with or without Low Profile); should they be discovered by anything they can't kill themselves, they can just dash away to the rest of the team. Should usually be equipped with a Skeleton Suit or Ghost Armor to Grapple up to a rooftop or another high place; in XCOM: Enemy Within, these armors can be preempted/superseded by giving a Sniper the Muscle Fiber Density Gene Mod. Hunter-Killer Squads A tactic which involves maintaining a highly mobile and offensive squad composition. Fielding a squad where every member has high movement, grappling hooks/jumps, and/or the ability to deliver high non-stationary damage is key to this strategy. Nearly all members of the squad will be using medium-ranged weapons and Skeleton Suits or Ghost Armor (that grant movement & defense bonuses plus grappling hooks). This mobility allows all members to easily bridge cover gaps, storm objectives, flank enemy troops, and duck out of danger if wounded. Assaults (with Run & Gun and Rapid Fire) and Supports (with Sprinter) form the backbone of this strategy. Assaults should be offensively built (except perhaps for Lightning Reflexes), and should carry rifles. Supports should take Sprinter and Rifle Suppression. For long-term payoff, you can include Snipers in your squad, making sure to get the Gunslinger perk to improve their on-the-move damage potential; however in XCOM: Enemy Within once your Sniper is a Colonel and has 105 Aim, a player may want to augment them to a MEC Trooper with Kinetic Strike Module, Jetboot Module, Advanced Fire Control, Reactive Targeting Sensors, and the Advanced Servomotors Foundry upgrade to create a devastatingly mobile Hunter-Killer MEC. Including one rocket-spec Heavy in the squad, while not central to the theme, can often help diffuse the occasional swarm situation. This squad tactic is very good at completing time-sensitive objectives like saving civilians in Terror Site missions, defusing bombs, or capturing Meld containers. This tactic provides a faster-paced, more dynamic combat experience which many players may prefer over the slower and more conservative tactics listed. However, the strategy does involve far more risk-taking than many other strategies, and therefore is not recommended for Impossible difficulty. Multi-Tier This strategy allows for a diverse squad and is useful for linear objectives and battlegrounds (such as UFO Crash Sites) where the enemy will approach from a single direction and have little chance of flanking the squad. The strategy revolves around the use of all specialist classes with Assault Soldiers slowly but consistently moving forwards and attachments such as S.C.O.P.E.s or Nano-fiber Vests to heighten either accuracy or survival. A pair of Heavies will follow with S.C.O.P.E.s to heighten accuracy from both normal shots and reaction shots, ideally using abilities such as Suppression and Holo-Targeting to buff fellow units and offer an escape route for the Assaults. A Support can be used as either a bridge to provide Overwatch between the Assaults or the Heavies or stay back and be used as a Medic with Rifle Suppression. The final slots can be used for either a Sniper to use range buffs to kill priority targets or have additional Supports/Heavies/Assaults based on the map layout. This tactic, although requiring some degree of consistency, is highly versatile as teams can be split into pairs or trios and can move down separate sides of the map. It is also highly inclusive to Rookies as they can be used in a similar way to the Support troopers and can get the trickle of experience needed to become Squaddies. The main drawback to this tactic, however, is that it depends on Assaults to lead the way. If the squad is flanked, they can end up pinned in the center of the map. Movement and Fire Tactics Maneuvering is as crucial to combat as firepower. Generally termed initiative, it is about capturing the momentum of the battle and using it decisively to keep the enemy off balance while maintaining an advantageous position and field of fire. Remember that the tide of a battle can turn instantly due to a few lucky shots from the enemy, particularly at higher difficulty levels, so minimizing risk while maximizing potential is key. Two-by-Two Used when a squad is broken down into small parties for searching an area, two-by-two formations involve maintaining interlocking fields of fire and staggered movement point use. In reality, two-by-two movement is used to cover blind spots, allowing each soldier to reinforce the other. In XCOM, two-by-two is used to ensure that if an advancing soldier runs into enemies, at a minimum his or her partner will get off at least one shot. Two-by-two is an inadvisable strategy for primary combat, as it does not bring enough firepower to handle possible threats. Instead, it is best employed as a mop-up approach for hunting down straggling aliens. Advancing Cover Similar to but distinct from Leapfrogging (see below), advancing cover is used by a fire team to push forward into an unknown area without exposing itself to unnecessary risk and giving itself the opportunity to respond to threats. In this tactic, a fire team is divided into two elements which work in a fashion similar to the Point and Punch strategy discussed in the previous section. Element A advances as a point scout, using only one movement point, never dashing, and always ending movement in the best cover possible. Element B moves up into the cover vacated by Element A. When resistance is found by Element A, it can either engage immediately if appropriate to the risk, or retreat to its previous cover, whereupon Element B will go on Overwatch to hit the enemy should he pursue the retreating point unit. Advancing cover provides the best protection and ability to take down an enemy for a small fireteam. However, it can lead to stagnation if the enemy force cannot be routed in a turn or two. At that point, combat becomes a game of probabilities, and a matter of who gets a lucky shot first. As with other strategies, keep the teams spread out. Elements A and B should always maintain the same spacing: one full movement point. This prevents a bombardment shot from a Cyberdisc or other mechanized unit from affecting the entire fire team. Additionally, take care to scout hallway branches lest the team be hit on the flank by a bypassed enemy. Leapfrogging Also known as bounding, leapfrogging is an old military tactic that depends upon an unbroken stream of covering fire. While a common and valuable tactic for real-world militaries, leapfrogging has a single, specialized use in XCOM: capturing live enemies. Unlike advancing cover, the main objective of leapfrogging is not to inflict damage but to cover ground in relative safety. The unit must have at least two soldiers capable of laying down suppressing fire, and they will form the cores of two elements. Each element must have a suppressing gunner and rifle troops. The process begins with enemy contact. The forward element, which we will call Element A, immediately lays down suppressing fire to pin the hostile down and reduce his aim. While he is thus occupied, Element B moves up by rushing to the next viable cover and sets up. This way, when the turn is resolved and the suppressing fire ends from Element A, it is immediately resumed by Element B, which is now rested and much closer to the hostile. This process is repeated until a soldier equipped with an Arc Thrower is able to close the gap and effect the capture. It is noteworthy that this is not a viable strategy for the capture of Outsiders; their weak health means that should the suppressing fire connect for damage, they will almost certainly be killed. Mobile Fortress A tactic without a conventional analogue, this involves using an Alloy S.H.I.V. as a mobile barricade, with a soldier using its bulk for cover. This can be particularly useful when surprised by an alien heavy unit, but care should be taken; SHIVs draw heavy fire and bombardment, so unless the SHIV or its following soldier can lay down suppressing fire to deter enemy counterattack, both are likely to take damage during the Alien Activity phase. The advantage to the mobile fortress is that when used properly, it enables an unbroken stream of suppressing fire, as both the SHIV and the soldier should be able to suppress for two turns each, meaning that so long as their engagements are staggered, there should be no reloading pause. Border Advance The premise of this strategy is simple: stay out of the center of the map. While not always dangerous, proceeding through the center of the map does leave open the "worst case scenario" of 3-5 packs of patrolling aliens stumbling upon your squad all at once and from multiple directions. This is especially true of UFO crash and landing site missions which often have far more wandering patrols. Whenever possible (depends on the map), move your squad along the border. When you are advancing your squad in this manner, they are revealing less territory, and consequently will awaken fewer packs and have fewer alien patrols stumbling upon them. It also makes it very difficult for your squad to get flanked when they have their backs to the border. On the other hand, following this strategy frequently means failing time-sensitive objectives such as capturing Meld, or rescuing civilians on Terror missions. It also creates a slower gaming experience which some players may find tedious (especially on larger maps). Nevertheless, it is extremely effective at ensuring the safety of your soldiers, and is therefore recommended for Ironman mode and/or Impossible difficulty. Category:Guides